School Leaders Unveil New Boundary Proposals for Cottonwood Elementary

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By Chelsea Kopta

Summary

Cottonwood elementary will have all the bells and whistles when it opens its doors later this year and, for months, neighboring families have been wondering if their kids make up the first class. Thursday, parents got their first clue if their kids are in or out.

Story Published: Feb 11, 2010 at 11:53 PM PST

KENNEWICK, WA -- The lines are being drawn for who goes where at a new Kennewick elementary school. Cottonwood elementary will have all the bells and whistles when it opens its doors later this year and, for months, neighboring families have been wondering if their jacks and jills will make up the first class.

Thursday, parents got their first clue if their kids are in or out as the district held the first of six public meetings to discuss the boundaries.

Under one proposal, dozens of families who live in Rancho Reata and Badger Canyon could now send their little ones to Cottonwood Elementary. On the new boundary map, the northernmost line would stay nearly the same as before, just south of Broadmoor Street and north of Rachel Road. But the new lines extend miles south, and from South Bermuda Road to the west end to Clodfelter Road to the east.

"We live in an area where we can see the new school and we wanted to know if our kids were going there cause we heard rumors they may or may not and it looks like they will be going there so we're happy about that," George Cicotte said, a dad of seven who lives in Rancho Reata.

If school leaders sign off on the proposal, Cicotte's kids would switch from Sunset View to Cottonwood. And that's the plan, he believes, most folks in his neighborhood hoped for. It was just the feedback school officials wanted.

"We struggled a lot with this west side of town issue because we're really just taking Sunset View and Ridge View and dividing it into three schools," Greg Fancher said, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education. "It's really hard to reach into these other neighborhoods because you get so close to existing schools."

Sunset View, colored dark green on Kennewick's map, and Ridge View in lighter green, would both shrink in size.

Under the same proposal, schools on the east side of town won't change much. Amistad elementary will shrink while Eastgate will go up a bit. Westgate Elementary boundaries would remain virtually unchanged. It's a balancing act that school leaders hope will keep enrollment numbers between 450 and 550 students per school.

"We've worked really hard to keep neighborhoods intact," Fancher continued. "We've either used major roadways or some kind of a geographical barrier that naturally separates boundary areas."

It wasn't just major roads that helped school staff plot new boundaries. Fancher explained how the district filed every student's name into an excel spreadsheet, then input that data into a mapping system to break down the entire district into 54 neighborhoods. The mapping system helped leaders figure out exactly how many kids lived in each neighborhood. That way, the kids who play together now, can keep playing together.

"I like it, I really like the concept of small elementary schools," Coyana Furniss said, who's kids would likely not be switched. Furniss' kids actually live within the Westgate boundary but are enrolled at Southgate and she plans to keep it that way. In that case, if parents want to go to schools outside of where they live, they would have to apply for a transfer.

The new lines aren't set in stone but so far, parents approve.

According to Fancher, almost 800 kids currently go to schools who are not in their own boundary. There are options for parents who want to keep their kids in the same school they go to now, either for special programs - like English Language Learning or KOG - or by choice. Parents must sign a transfer request and turn it back in to administrators by March 18.

Cottonwood is opening because voters approved a $68 million bond, in 2009, to build a new elementary school to alleviate overcrowding throughout the district as well as renovate five aging elementary schools. Currently, there are 25 portables spread across all elementary schools in Kennewick. That's the same size or more of any elementary school in the district, according to Fancher.

PUBLIC MEETING DATES:
February 11 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Eastgate Elementary, 910 E. 10th Ave.
February 16 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Canyon View Elementary, 201 S. Garfield
February 22 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Washington Elementary, 105 W. 21st Ave.
February 23 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Lincoln Elementary, 4901 W. 20th Ave.
February 25 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Ridge View Elementary, 7001 W. 13th Ave.
March 1 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Sunset View Elementary, 711 Center Parkway

BOUNDARY APPROVAL TIMELINE:
March 10: Presentation to the Kennewick School Board
March 15: Letter will go home to parents if kids will go to new school
March 18: Transfer requests due
March 25: Approve new boundaries